Comments by "Crime Stoppers" (@crimestoppers1877) on "Property Taxes On The Rise: Housing Market Update" video.

  1. Agree! I live on a ranch that I own with my own water well and garden. Not having to owe money to a bank is Freedom.
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  2. My mortgage interest was only 2.5% and I also required that I had an option to buy Loan Servicing rights to my loan if they ever wanted to sell the rights. Even with this super low interest rate , I decided to pay off the mortgage. Most of my income is legally sheltered from taxes. I do not want to pay mortgage interest just for an income tax deduction that I can not use to my benefit. Zero interest is better than 1% interest, it is still just free money to the bank, so why give away the money that I have earned?
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  3. A local city School District Superintendent in California is making over $700,000/year salary paid for by property taxes, even though less than 20% of the high school graduates meet minimum academic standards.
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  4. Perhaps? In my case I have been working and paying in to Social Security since 1958 and I do not collect Social Security Benefits and do not collect Medicare Benefits. Why? I know many Federal government employees who brag that they are not eligible for Social Security or medicare since they have pension plans that pay more and they don't want government "benefits" . I also do not want to be subordinate to some government clerk who decides about the latest "police" that restricts the alleged benefits that they pay ( this is a daily occurance) . Instead, I try to live a healthy and PRODUCTIVE life by working for myself while retired. I currently pay a lot of money for my "Cadillac" medical insurance plan. Battling insurance company clerks on eavery little claim is a more productive use of my time than dealing with government workers who are not held accountable to any standard. I see both Social Security and Medicare as a huge Clown show.  @jasoncortez1238 
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  5. I am a senior as are most of my friends. I have made good investments in real estate and am no longer in the stock market. I have everything I need for the financial future. If I need some fast cash I can sell one of my houses ( no mortgages) at a lowest market price and still have plenty of cash. I speculate that 5 Mill of liquid assets ( no interest) is required to survive the future. Using your hypothesis with a so-called balanced or "diversified" portfolio you will require 8% annual interest of the same 1 Million portfolio. I don't want to be eating only fast food chicken burgers for meals. Yes, I also have Gold and Silver bullion ( real metals) just in case.  @jamesnguyen7069 
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  6. Agree! Caveat Emptor! Let the Buyer Beware!  @goldcic 
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  7. When I am in the market as a buyer in the market for a Single Family Dwelling, I am actually in competition with every other buyer in my market. Advantages go to those who have better credit scores, have less debt, a lower DTI score and can close fast. We can all agree on this. But there is one factor that places me in a huge disadvantage. It does not matter how much money I can put down, how much I can actually afford, my credit scores including DTI ratio or my base income. This is that I am also competing against those with "Inside information". In the past I have worked with Buyers agents who bought the house that I was trying to buy. How did they legally do this? The Buyers agent had an alleged "room mate" who came out of nowhere and knew ALL the details of my "confidential offer". How did I find out about this? I researched the person who was the succesful bidder ( and new owner) on the house and learned that my Buyers agent actually moved into the house, but as a "tenant". I later checked the County records and also found his name on the Deed. Legal? The Buyers agent got 50% ownership because he knew about the "deal". ie he paid NO MONEY to get his equity. His equity was the knowledge that I learned from my inspections that I paid for and knowledge about what I learned about the property. I am not a real estate attorney but I think it is unethical and immoral. What is the penalty? Almost zero since I have found that in California, many investors get a Real Estate license not to sell real estate, but to get "first dibs" on all the hidden deals in the Multiple Listing Service. Currently, in my area about 40-50% of all sales transactions of associates and brokers are with Dual Agency contracts. From my experience, the most important FACT about a house is not just its construction, size or quality but it is Location and the Sellers reasons to sell. Is this why many top Real estate brokers claim that the Seven R's of Real estate ( or foreclosures) is where they make most of their profits? I am talking about what is actually "insider trading" with unknown and unspoken information that ONLY agents have access to. In California, this is called "Agents Confidential" information on an addendum to the listing NOT AVAILABLE TO prospective buyers or buyers. It is available to the buyer ONLY after closing. Why the secrecy to the disadvantage of many prospective buyers? This is why as a buyer, I never provide details of inspection reports that I PAID for to my agent, broker or seller, unless it is solely to my advantage much later in the sales negotiations. The negotiated price must be lower before I disclose the negativity that I discovered. Cooments?
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  8. In my city, They City council voted to buy the Electric and Gas utility company and handle all operations, billing and engineering. It is interesting to see 62 employees in the "Finance" office playing video games and social media while the customers trying to pay their bills wait in long lines going down the street. The utility bills ar 50% higher than just outside the city borders. The County area outside the city borders has only TWO employees to service 5 times the population living outside the city and the utility bills are much lower. A simple look at the employees names says it all. Most city government employees are family, friends and associates of the "big shots" who run the city government. Thousands of families are moving from California and New York City to seek lower taxes, less government and freedom from hubris and smug pretend government services and high taxes. @RobertGBurke
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  9. I think I should search for a house in Alabama! I live in California, where even a 2 bed 1 bath dump built in 1910, with more termites in it than nails, can easily sell for $400,000 for a quick sale.
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